When a cunning villain sets out to destroy the Great Northern railway, Holmes comes face-to-face will all manner of frontier characters, including two-fisted railroad men, rough-and-tumble lumberjacks, and a one-eyed teamster. He also becomes especially attentive to one beautiful woman's (and suspect's) charms. But charm gives way to terror when Holmes finds himself facing a vile arsonist known as the Red Demon on a lonely bridge in a circle of death. Never, says Watson, was Holmes more magnificent than at that moment.